Red Sparks
by Ophiuchus
Summary: "If you get into difficulty, and wish to be rescued, send red sparks into the air, and one of us will come and get you." What if that was to be taken literally?


Disclaimer – Owned by not me, but JK Rowling, Scholastic Books and whoever else should be listed.

AN: I know in the books Cedric shot the sparks, but it works better for Harry to do it in this short story. This was something that I first thought when I read through the 4th book and just recently took the time to write.

Red Sparks

Harry looked behind again. Somehow, he just had this feeling he was being followed. He turned another corner and quickly ducked back around. Another Blast-Ended Skrewt. He had thought there hadn't been many left, that they had mostly fought themselves to extinction, but he must have seen at least four of them so far in this bloody maze. He hurried past the turn and took the next one. After only a few steps he heard a muffled noise behind him. He had his wand at the ready as he turned to face behind him.

Professor McGonagall came striding and she didn't look pleased. "Mr. Potter," she started. "May I ask what you think you are doing?" Her lips were very tight.

Harry blinked. What? A sense of unreality hit him as in the middle of the Third Task he was asked this question.

Professor McGonagall must have correctly interpreted his look and tried to explain. "You sent up red sparks."

If that was supposed to clarify the situation it didn't. "Er, yeah. For Krum."

He could swear McGonagall gave a look to the heavens, said "Figures." under her breath and gave a small huff. "Mr. Potter, please tell me what it is I said before the maze began."

Harry blinked. "That if we needed help to shoot up sparks and you would get us out of here. Victor was unconscious and needed help so I shot up the sparks."

McGonagall gave a small shake of her head. "It was all very noble of you to try to help Mr. Krum, but as you shot up the sparks, it is you I need to escort out of the maze." She gently took his shoulder and her tone turned more sympathetic. "You are done, Mr. Potter."

Harry was stunned. He hadn't thought it was him giving up when he shot the sparks up to mark where Victor lay after Harry stunned him for torturing Cedric. He didn't think Cedric thought that, either, as he hadn't said anything and had actually looked like he would have shot them as well. Harry had been shocked that Krum had ended up being someone who would crucio another, but he didn't want Victor to die when Harry and Cedric left him unconscious as there were several things in this maze that could easily kill someone who was in such a vulnerable state.

Professor McGonagall turned and led him back in the direction she had come from. After a couple of turns he saw a huge disc with holes in the middle he was sure hadn't been there when he passed by before. He shook his head and kept walking with his Transfiguration teacher. A little later he saw another disc. He looked towards McGonagall.

She was keeping a sharp look out and he supposed he should still be as well as they were not yet out of the maze. She was also talking to him, he belatedly realized. "…possible you could get marks as you did in the second task, but I'm not sure runner up positions really count for much. You did have a good showing considering your age." She trailed off and got quiet.

Harry could hear something ahead of them. At the next corner, Harry and his professor peered around and saw another of those Blast-Ended Skrewts. Professor McGonagall stepped into the corridor, raised her wand and fired a spell. The skrewt started to transform into one of those large discs with holes in middle. She looked at Harry and gave a small smirk at his dumbfounded look. "Beetles to buttons, Potter. First year lesson. Now come along."

Harry followed his Transfiguration teacher out of the maze.

Fleur was in the medical tent. She had just been stunned. Victor was being held by aurors and Professor Moody. Karkaroff was angrily gesticulating with the hand holding his staff and Moody was shouting back. Victor's eyes looked like he was living a nightmare and couldn't wake up. Everything became still when a loud sound came from the maze indicating someone (only Cedric was still in the maze) had won. The crowd got antsy when nothing more happened.

Amos Diggory came down from his seat to speak with the judges, who also were looking concerned. Dumbledore came over to Moody.

"Alastor, tell me what you see in the maze. Is Mr. Diggory still in there?"

Moody's face pulled into a slightly mad looking grimace. Harry thought those scars seemed to give him a slightly sinister look. "He's not there, Albus. He's gone. I don't see 'im." The corner of his mouth twitched a little.

Dumbledore frowned at Moody, but then Cedric showed up in the middle of the lawn, clutching the winner's cup. He dropped it to the ground, looked around and saw his father.

"Dad! The cup is a portkey to a graveyard that looked to be set up for some ritual. There was some guy there holding a small bundle that moved and screamed 'Where is Potter?!'. I hoped the portkey was one that had a return trip, grabbed it and got back here. Something bad is going on."

Amelia Bones was hurrying to the cup on the ground. She started casting spells on it. "Got it! Dawlish! Robards! Shacklebolt! to me!"

A few aurors hurried over to her. Moody pushed Harry aside as he hurriedly limped over. "I'll come along."

"Not this time, Moody. You're retired. I've got who I need." She and the other three grabbed the portkey and disappeared. Moody growled and stomped around. Harry decided to avoid him for a while.

After some time, Fudge decided to go ahead with the awards ceremony even though the whole atmosphere seemed quite subdued. Cedric was awarded 1,000 galleons, even though he seemed slightly reluctant to take it. He kept shooting glances at the other champions, Harry, Fleur and Victor, who was still bracketed by aurors.

After the ceremony, many in the crowd left while others milled around, talking. Harry told Hermione and Ron what happened. Ron was shocked, as if he didn't believe Krum really was the enemy, even if he had said so earlier in the year. Hermione refused to believe it and kept glancing at Victor, still standing with the aurors, Karkaroff and Moody, waiting for Madame Bones to return. Moody kept looking at his watch and trying to get any drops out of his flask.

From a distance, Harry could see Madame Bones had returned with a larger group of aurors. She marched over to Victor's group.

"Alastor Moody, or whoever you are, you are under arrest. Drop your wand!" There were gasps all around as what she said sank in.

Moody growled and swung towards Harry. "This is all your fault, Potter! I worked so hard to get you to the maze and what do you do? Give up! My Master was going to kill you tonight, but I think he'll understand if I finish the job! Avada K-"

Dumbledore was moving towards the commotion, but he was too far away. Moody was only a short distance from Harry and Harry didn't have his wand out. Surrounded by people as he was, he wasn't sure he could move anyway.

Victor was right next to Moody. He grabbed Karkaroff's staff and swung it into Moody. Moody collapsed and Amelia bound him with ropes.

Harry looked at Victor. "Thanks." Hermione was beaming with an "I told you so" smirk on her face. The auror's arrested Moody, whose face soon started to bubble and change. He transformed into someone called Barty Crouch Jr. who people were shocked to see. Under questioning he admitted he had put Victor under the Imperius curse. A search party went into the castle and the real Mad Eye Moody was found, locked in a trunk.

Cedric and Harry were on brooms. It was summer and Cedric had fire-called and said he wanted to speak with Harry and Harry invited him over.

Many things had changed in Harry's life. Madame Bones and her aurors had arrested Peter Pettigrew and the Voldemort construct. Peter was given a trial with Veritaserum, found guilty and given a dementor's kiss. The Voldemort construct was given to the Unspeakable Department for them to study and figure out how to destroy with finality.

With Pettigrew's confession, Sirius was given a trial. He was found innocent, given compensation for the massive screw up by the Ministry and was allowed to finally give Harry a home. Their home was a rather large estate with huge open spaces. Just the way Sirius preferred. A benefit was plenty of room to fly and room for a disguised hippogriff, formerly known as Buckbeak.

"You know, Harry, the reason I wanted to see you was to apologize about what happened in the Third task. I feel terrible that you were taken out because of those sparks. It could just have easily been me that shot them up. You just beat me to it by a few seconds. It wasn't fair."

Harry smiled. "Cedric, don't worry about it. I'm glad you were able to escape the kidnappers. I wouldn't have known about the portkey coming back." Harry paused and looked around. "You know, you may have won the Tournament, but sending up those red sparks was the best thing I ever did."

The end


End file.
